Chapter 212: big win

"General, the Germans' firepower is too powerful. They have too many machine guns and small-caliber rapid-fire guns. Our cavalry simply cannot get close to their defense lines, let alone break through their defense lines." A Cossack cavalry division The division commander reported to General Samsonov with a livid face. Seeing his troops being massacred by the Germans with powerful firepower, his heart seemed to be bleeding.

  Admiral Samsonov's face was ashen, and his whole body seemed to have his bones removed, and he suddenly lost his energy.

  The same is true for other Russian generals. The back road was cut off by the German army, and there was another powerful German army attacking in front. This time, they might not be able to fly even with their wings inserted.

   "General, the Germans are too powerful. It is impossible to defeat them. Let's disperse and break through. In this case, there may be a chance of survival." Some generals suggested.

   Indeed, the Germans made it clear that they wanted to annihilate them all. If they stayed together, none of them could escape. On the contrary, they scattered and broke through, and one who was able to escape counted as one. In this case, the chances of survival will be greater.

  Admiral Samsonov is not a fool. He knows what these generals mean, nothing more than letting the large troops attract the attention of the Germans, and then they take the opportunity to lead a small group of elite troops to break through. In this case, the possibility of escaping from birth is undoubtedly still very high. As long as he could escape, even if he lost all his troops, he would not hesitate. Anyway, Russia lacks everything, except people. When all the troops are exhausted, just recruit those peasants into the army.

  Of course, as far as General Samsonov himself is concerned, if he is asked to trade the lives of the remaining more than 100,000 Russian soldiers for his own chance of survival, he will agree without hesitation. He is a noble general in the army, how can those lowly serfs be able to compare?

   "Well, let's do what you want. General Jilinski, I will explain. Good luck to everyone, and God bless us! Everyone, see you in Warsaw." Admiral Samsonov said.

   "May God bless us!" These Russian generals prayed to God very devoutly. It seems that only God can save them now.

  After making the decision, Admiral Samsonov immediately issued an order to disperse and break through the encirclement. The commanders of the various infantry divisions and cavalry divisions led the troops to break through in all directions. Of course, this is just an illusion. In fact, those generals are all very shrewd. If they can get to this point, their ability to save their lives will naturally not be worse. After the large forces attracted the attention of the German army, they immediately broke through under the leadership of the elite troops. Except for a few generals who failed to break through and were captured by the German army, the rest escaped successfully.

   It's just that these Russian generals who escaped from the encirclement lost all their troops. Naturally, there was not much threat to the German army. Even Qin Tian didn't care about these escaped Russian generals.

   In Qin Tian's opinion, these guys are not even as useful as ordinary Russian soldiers. Those ordinary Russian soldiers are strong and strong. After being captured, it can also be used as a coolie. If Germany wins this battle, it will gain a large piece of existing Russian territory. The infrastructure in this territory is terrible. If large-scale construction is to be carried out, it will definitely require a large amount of investment. And these prisoners of war will be an excellent labor force. Having them around will undoubtedly save a lot of money.

  The current Qin Tian is known as the most successful businessman in the world. Therefore, even when fighting, he still needs to consider these aspects.

  After Admiral Samsonov gave the order to break through, it became more difficult for the German 8th Army to encircle and annihilate the Russian 2nd Army. Their strength is so small that the encirclement is too thin and there are loopholes everywhere, which can easily be caught by the Russians.

  After learning that the Russian army began to disperse and break through, Lieutenant General François, who commanded the battle, immediately ordered all ministries to block the Russian army as much as possible, trying to annihilate more Russian troops.

   It is naturally easier to capture the Russian army than to kill those Russian troops. After all, the current Russian army has completely lost the courage to fight. With their weak will to fight, the possibility of surrendering to the German army is undoubtedly very high.

   Therefore, once the various departments of the German army blocked the Russian army, they tried their best to recruit and surrender the Russian army. In this case, it saves more time and effort.

   "Surrender! Hand in your guns and don't kill!"

   Tanks rushed up one after another, blocking the way for the Russian army to break through. Even though, there are only a few of these tanks. It is far inferior to the thousands of Russian troops who are preparing to break through.

  But the Russian army has long been frightened. In particular, the tanks of the German army are hailed by the Russian army as weapons of the devil.

  When seeing these tanks appear, the Russian soldiers immediately raised their hands and surrendered to the Germans.

   A few tanks easily captured thousands of Russian troops. From the perspective of later generations, this is simply not realistic. However, when the tank first appeared on the battlefield, it was really possible to achieve such an effect.

   After these Russian troops surrendered one after another, the tank immediately called the infantry to come up to take these prisoners.

   Half an hour later, a company of infantry came up and took over guarding the prisoners. The tanks continued to move forward, trying to capture more Russian troops.

   Situations like this can be seen everywhere on the battlefield. The blocked Russian army, in order to survive, raised their hands to the German army and surrendered. Although, these Russian soldiers were very brave during the war, and they were not afraid of death. However, once they lost their will to fight, they became docile like sheep. A company or even a platoon of Russian troops can take care of thousands of Russian prisoners of war.

  The battle lasted until the sun went down. The German 8th Army won a big victory in the Battle of Tannenburg. The ten infantry divisions and six cavalry divisions of the Russian Second Army were almost completely wiped out. Although, because the German 8th Army had too few troops, there were large loopholes in the encirclement, which allowed many Russian troops to escape. However, that part of the Russian army added up to only 10,000 to 20,000 people. And almost all of them are defeated generals who have lost their courage to fight, so there is nothing to worry about at all.

  The Russian army annihilated and captured by the German 8th Army exceeded 150,000 people. Among them, there were more than 100,000 prisoners of war alone. In addition, many Russian troops were lost on the battlefield.